The Sewanhaka Central High School Board of Education has invited residents of the school district to a meeting next month to assist the board in the process of selecting a replacement Superintendent of Schools Warren Mierdiercks.
The public forum is planned for March 10 in the Sewanhaka High School.
“The board is facing the most important task any school board ever faces: replacing its chief school officer,” said Jean Fichtl, president of the Sewanhaka School Board in her open invitation to residents. “We are confident that you want to be part of this process.”
Consultants from School Leadership LLC, who the board has retained to help identify viable candidates for the post, will attend the meeting to hear the public input. The board hopes to identify its choice for the post by the end of April.
Mierdiercks announced last month that he planned to retire from the position at the end of the current school year.
Board members have consulted with representatives of School Leadership, who have been making contact with parent-teacher organizations in the district. A “It’s part of the focus group process,” said David Fowler, vice president of the Sewanhaka School Board. “These are their schools. This is their superintendent and we want to make sure everyone is heard as to what they think.”
The search, which included a job posting in last Sunday’s New York Times, was begun in the wake Mierdiercks’ announcement last month. Mierdirecks has been working in the district for the past 37 years – the last five as superintendent.
Fowler said the board is seeking a candidate who is knowledgeable in both finance and education.
“In this day and age, besides the educational pieces you need someone with a financial background,” Fowler said. “Aid is becoming much more difficult to obtain and you have to look to deliver the best educational product at the least possible cost.”
Fowler said the ideal candidate may fit the profile of an assistant superintendent of business from another school district. That was the position Mierdiercks held prior to his appointment as superintendent five years ago.
Fowler indicated that the school board also is seeking to hire someone with experience commensurate with the demands of the large Sewanhaka district, which oversees five combined junior high-high schools.
“I’m hoping that because of the size and the diversity of the district, we would have an experienced administrator who’s interested,” he said.
The board retained School Leadership to help sort out prospective candidates according to stipulations of the board and the respective stakeholder groups it is in the process of interviewing.
Residents who are unable to attend the March 10 meeting can fill out and submit answers to a questionnaire posted on the school district’s Web site at www.sewanhaka.k12.ny.us.
